Commonwealth Banknotes

The story of the men that created the notes used in the Hay Internment Camp was recounted in popular culture most explicitly in the 1980's TV series produced by the BBC titled "The Dunera Boys". The full story of the notes is far less well known - particularly the fact that the designs either side contain a range of "hidden" messages within them.

The "Dunera Boys" included musicians, artists, philosophers, scientists and writers - their living facilities at Camp Hay were basic, many said that was boredom that was the greatest enemy.

Internees organised educational and artistic projects, including lectures, concerts and camp newspapers. One such project was the creation of these currency notes that were intended to be used within the confines of the internment camp. The designer of the notes...

Herbert Cole “Nugget” Coombs is best known to numismatists as the first Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and by extension as a signatory on Australia’s banknotes for several decades. In the broader community however, Coombs is highly regarded for a much wider range of significant civic contributions across several diverse areas.

Many numismatists will be surprised to learn that Coombs’ working life both before and after he was a signatory on our banknotes spanned no less than five different decades. Coombs had been in full-time employment for 22 years before becoming Governor of the Commonwealth Bank, and remained active for 27 years after he retired from the Reserve Bank of Australia....

The Dardanelles Overprints are a series of British banknotes (ten shillings and one pound) over-printed in Arabic and issued for use by Allied soldiers serving at Gallipoli between May and June 1915. As there were no Allied military canteens on the Dardanelles, these notes were issued to the troops so they were able to buy items from the locals.

The "host" notes are the standard "Bradbury" one pound and ten shilling notes that were in circulation in the United Kingdom at that time. These bank notes were...

The appearance of several blank one pound notes in a series of auctions between 1980 and 2013 raised a number of questions - first among them for me was, just what are they?

Unexplained oddities such as these are one of the truly rewarding areas of Australian numismatics, a bit of legwork can go a long way in turning an oddball item into one that’s highly prized. These unissued one pound note forms draw in a number of different sections of Australian numismatics - specimen notes, error / variety notes, the switch from the reasonably large Harrison series notes down to the smaller Legal Tender notes, as well as the numismatic pandemonium that surrounded the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936.

The Unissued Type Two One Thousand Pound Specimen note is one of Australia’s most important currency notes - it is by far the highest denomination in the Australian monetary system, it is unique in private hands, it may well have a provenance linking it to Australia’s transition to central reserve banking, and easily ranks among Australia’s most valuable numismatic items.

Britain was under a great deal of strain in the opening stages of World War II - not only was success against Germany on the battlefields of Europe not guaranteed, but there was genuine concern that Hitler’s forces may one day arrive on British shores.

The Home Secretary took steps to ensure that a “fifth column” of German spies was not able to spring into action should Germany succeed in invading Britain, prime among them was the deportation of many thousands of refugees and “aliens” from Germany, Austria and elsewhere.

One load of deportees was sent via the “Dunera” to be interned at “Camp Seven”, near the Southern NSW town of Hay. Although early Australian newspaper reports portrayed the internees as being “dangerous”, historical records show...

The Provincial and Suburban Bank opened for business on November 26th, 1872 at 165 Smith Street in Collingwood (Melbourne, Victoria). Three years of poor results right from the outset meant that a portion of the bank's capital had to be written off not long after it was established.

Management then changed to a Mr Richard Willis, a gentleman who until that stage in his career had apparently been a cordial manufacturer. With a background such as that, it is perhaps unsurprising that it was proven later that Willis was "...

The Western Australian Bank was a proud local business institution that was formed in 1841, and became part of the Bank of New South Wales in 1927. It was one of the very few Australian banks to survive the banking crisis of 1893, and for 86 years it was a trusted member of the West Australian business community.

The banknotes issued by the Western Australian Bank were readily accepted right up until the Commonwealth Government took over the note issue in 1910.

To many collectors, 2013 marks a hundred years since Australia’s first notes were issued. The “Treasury” series of Commonwealth notes have long been regarded by the vast majority of Australian note collectors as the first notes issued by Australia’s Commonwealth government.

Knowledgable collectors are aware that the Treasury notes are not the first - the Type I superscribed notes that were issued from 1910 is the first series of Australian notes issued under the authority of the Commonwealth government.

We have extensive experience in handling all Australian gold soveriegns and halves, from the Adelaide Pounds of 1852 right through to the last coins of George V of 1931.

All of the Australian gold coins in our online shop are described in detail, and are depicted by high resolution images showing each side. Our listings are also often accompanied by background information to the coin's history.

At Sterling & Currency, we specialize in handling Australian coins dating from our nation's settlement in 1788 through to the introduction of decimal currency in 1966.

We have an extensive range in our online store of Australian gold, copper and silver coins - we're committed to offering our customers coins that are attractive for their grade and priced according to the current market.

The Australian proof and UNC coins struck by the Perth Mint and the RAM are the most accessible coins available to collectors today.

Our online stock doesn't reflect all of the decimal coins that we handle on a regular basis, much less the stock we have access to, so if you're not able to find a particular coin that you're keen to add to your collection, let us know and we'll be happy to contact you when it becomes available.